Fundamentals: ARMed and Dangerous?

The ARM revolution has come from the core up, and from outside the usual epicenters of IT disruption. "ARMed and dangerous" doesn't even begin to describe how the established leaders in the chip industry view ARM Holdings, the company based in Cambridge, England, that unleashed this onslaught. For example, chips based on open source ARM technology are gunning for both the consumer side, via smartphones, tablets and eventually the gamut of Windows 8 devices, and in the data center with low-power microservers and Linux.

ARM-based RISC options will present alternatives to established RISC silicon like IBM’s Power and Oracle's Sparc, as well as CISC options from AMD and Intel. ARM chips deliver more computing muscle (with a combination of GPUs and CPUs) and lower power consumption, a potent combination.

If you thought you could ignore silicon, you’re wrong. In this report, we’ll delve into ARM and explain why IT needs to pay attention. (S4320212)